Home » HR practices » Quality of life at work » Japan : Microsoft 4-day working week trial to promote ‘life choices at work’ and speed up changing attitudes Japan : Microsoft 4-day working week trial to promote ‘life choices at work’ and speed up changing attitudes Through . Published on 05 November 2019 à 11h49 - Update on 22 September 2021 à 16h35 Resources Over the course of August 2019, the 2,300 staff at Microsoft’s Japanese headquarters tried out working on a 4-day per week basis, when they worked for four consecutive days and did not work on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays (Microsoft statement here – in Japanese). The trial run was part of the company’s ‘summer challenge’, aimed at improving work-life balance, and that included funding support depending on how workers invested in their free time activities. For instance, funding was available for those looking to develop competences and pastimes and for those looking to go on family holidays. Funds were also available to contribute to the costs of contributions made to communities, (e.g. travel costs related to voluntary work). After the trial Microsoft concluded that reducing weekly working time had raised work-time efficiency. Meetings for instance were shortened to just thirty minutes, some of which were conducted remotely. Energy costs and other consumption costs were also reduced. The company calculated that August productivity levels jumped 39.9% between 2018 and 2019, while workers’ job satisfaction rose significantly. Another new flexible working time trial is ready to roll out and this time is scheduled for the start of 2020. Four-day working week Need more info ? Contact mind's on-demand study service Which service do you want to contact :WritingCommercial serviceTechnical SupportFirst name Last name Organization Function email* Object of the message Your messagePhoneThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Essentials Les dernières publications Supporting parenthood in the workplace: a win-win strategy Supporting employee carers: a CSR challenge Analyzes Les dernières publications Paternity leave: data observations from 41 countries EU: during H1 2022 five EU Member States have raised their minimum salary levels